Hail damages OKC TV news helicopter during a live broadcast

[John Robinson]

Much has been said in other threads about the foolishness of getting too close to a dangerous storm. But this takes things to a new level. During storms on 4/19, hail broke out the windshield and did other damage to the news helicopter of one of the Oklahoma City TV stations.

The report from the helicopter begins at 45 seconds into the video:
'I have no windshield': Helicopter damaged by hail during broadcast | CNN

 

[Mark Herndon]

He wasn’t that close for one thing. That storm was tossing hail out into otherwise clear air. He was out in the inflow looking west.

The other point is the main one..The media chasers and pilots are without question saving lives. At least in Oklahoma, they are by far the main source of warning information. He had a good reason to be there.

 

[John Robinson]

He wasn’t that close for one thing. That storm was tossing hail out into otherwise clear air. He was out in the inflow looking west.

The other point is the main one..The media chasers and pilots are without question saving lives. At least in Oklahoma, they are by far the main source of warning information. He had a good reason to be there.

The guy could have gotten himself and the pilot killed. Anyone with a lick of sense would know that the hail in Oklahoma hailstorms does not necessarily fall right underneath the storm. That's why you have to give them a certain leeway. Or perhaps you'd rather tear up helicopters for no good reason.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Yes, hail is a constant threat to aviation and he was not what I would call too close, nor did he fly through a hail core on purpose for drama. News crews need to report what they are seeing to the public.

 

[Mark Herndon]

You may not be familiar with what weather days are like in Oklahoma. It is really amazing. Everyone is good at their jobs. The media here is the best in the country. It isn’t entertainment if you are in the path of a tornado that is obviously on the ground and it is confirmed live.

It’s very rare for a tornado not to be broadcast live here. It provides ground truth that everyone uses. It has been like that for going on 30 years.

I am sorry to sound snarky, but I am not sorry for the point: This pilot has without a doubt saved lives. He’s the equivalent of an ultimate Skywarn spotter. The coverage of both the 5-3-99 and 5-20-13 tornadoes gave an unprecedented ground truth and without a doubt contributed to getting the urgency of the warning out to the public. Go watch the coverage of those two events. The service these folks provide is obvious. Ground truth for everyone.

Attacking him for getting hit by hail is narrow minded. This isn’t some recreational chaser getting his mom’s car rolled. These people are very important here, and have an insane amount of field experience. Media is the main source of warning information in Oklahoma, and the helicopter pilots are very good at what they do. It isn’t for jollies. They are providing a vital service. I wish the rest of the country had tornado information like Oklahoma has. It would save lives.

If you can find a pilot with more experience flying in supercells and tornadoes, please educate me.

The vibe of attacking everyone who gets within five miles is just ridiculous much of the time. Certainly in this case.

I was on that storm. It was kicking out big hail in areas that would normally be fairly clear. It went through an area with a lot of homes for a rural area. At least two people died. They absolutely should have been conveying how serious that situation was.

If anyone shouldn’t be attacked so carelessly, it’s pilots like Gardner.

-off soap box.

 

[John Robinson]

You may not be familiar with what weather days are like in Oklahoma. It is really amazing. Everyone is good at their jobs. The media here is the best in the country. It isn’t entertainment if you are in the path of a tornado that is obviously on the ground and it is confirmed live.

It’s very rare for a tornado not to be broadcast live here. It provides ground truth that everyone uses. It has been like that for going on 30 years.

I am sorry to sound snarky, but I am not sorry for the point: This pilot has without a doubt saved lives. He’s the equivalent of an ultimate Skywarn spotter. The coverage of both the 5-3-99 and 5-20-13 tornadoes gave an unprecedented ground truth and without a doubt contributed to getting the urgency of the warning out to the public. Go watch the coverage of those two events. The service these folks provide is obvious. Ground truth for everyone.

Attacking him for getting hit by hail is narrow minded. This isn’t some recreational chaser getting his mom’s car rolled. These people are very important here, and have an insane amount of field experience. Media is the main source of warning information in Oklahoma, and the helicopter pilots are very good at what they do. It isn’t for jollies. They are providing a vital service. I wish the rest of the country had tornado information like Oklahoma has. It would save lives.

If you can find a pilot with more experience flying in supercells and tornadoes, please educate me.

The vibe of attacking everyone who gets within five miles is just ridiculous much of the time. Certainly in this case.

I was on that storm. It was kicking out big hail in areas that would normally be fairly clear. It went through an area with a lot of homes for a rural area. At least two people died. They absolutely should have been conveying how serious that situation was.

If anyone shouldn’t be attacked so carelessly, it’s pilots like Gardner.

-off soap box.

I am very aware of TV severe weather coverage in Oklahoma. I am also aware of generally-regarded rules on ST that back-and-forth posts on the same topic are not popular. Thus, I will make only a few points in reply.

Any pilot is taught that you give severe storms sufficient leeway, both horizontally and vertically.

I realize that there is value in showing the severe weather live on TV, nor did I say otherwise. You were the one that brought up that point as it was not even mentioned in my original post. I would say, though, what difference does it make whether the view of the tornado is from 3 miles away or 6 miles away (given that the camera lens gives an adequate view)? If the public can see it, that's the point, whether it fills up the entire TV screen or not. (Cameras do have zoom lenses.)

I am well aware of the competition between the OKC TV stations during severe weather. Don't tell me that one station is not trying to get a better/closer shot than another station. Great/exclusive shots are what the station's promotions department want to show when they air promos touting their severe weather coverage, beginning the next day.

It would be interesting to see what the helicopter's insurance company has to say. And I think it's a good bet that the copter won't get that close next time. The guy's voice indicated he was clearly frightened. And any time you have to make an unplanned landing, as he indicated he was going to do, there's a really good chance you should have done something differently.

In closing, I'll bring up something that many firefighters are told in one form or another: If you don't make it there, you can't do any good.

 

[rdale]

At least in Oklahoma, they are by far the main source of warning information.

Actually no - the NWS is the main source of warning information. The media does a great job at passing warning information along (except for one TV personality) but helicopter pilots are likely NOT saving lives.

Some of the OKC TV media are very talented, but there's generally a reason they don't get invited to speak at national conferences on radar or related issues

 

[Randy Jennings]

This thread reminds me of when Mark Fox did Skywarn training in the FWD area (he is now MIC at OUN). He would often show various diagrams with a supercell and place a X showing the location of a spotter and would ask the audience "Is the spotter safe?" The correct answer was always No or Maybe. I don't know the details of the location of this helicopter in relation to the storm, but it sounds like it might have been in the right flank in the inflow region. Normally that is a good spot to see a supercell from, but it falls in that "maybe" safety area for sure, especially when you consider hail. It sure is better than being in the downdraft core.

In over a decade of chasing, I have lost just one windshield. I was sitting northwest of Quanah TX in the rain free right flank with inflow from my back as I was looking northwest at the action area of the supercell. The supercell started launching hail 3 inches or more out of the downdraft and the strong inflow was blowing the hail to the northwest toward us despite us not getting a drop of rain. To make matters worse, our escape route went southeast which means we drove straight into the wind driven hail that looks to be coming from the blue sky when we tried to escape it. Looking back now I can see that such an event can easily be predicted.

As I was prepping to leave to chase the day that is the subject of this thread, I noticed the very large CAPE values in both forecast and observed soundings. That is an indicator that large hail can be flung out of a storm. You can estimate the updraft speed of a storm using the formula 0.6 * sqroot(2*CAPE). Result is in m/s. That means if you have a CAPE of 4000 J/km you could get updraft speeds of 53 m/s = 115 mph. That is the kind of updraft speed that can fling hail out of the storm. This didn't keep me out of the right flank that day but did cause me to choose our positing a little more carefully. Most of the time you are reasonably safe in the right flank (as long as you watch for right movers), but once a decade you will replace your car (or helicopter) windshield.

 

[Randy Jennings]

Pecos Hank lost a windshield to rbis storm - single large hailstones in otherwise rain free area.

 

[James K]

Oooh a new Pecos Hank vid! I'll have to go on YouTube & watch that.